1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automotive knee protector for protecting knees of a passenger in a seat of a vehicle in case of collision of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have been known some cases where the lower half of the passenger slips out of a seat belt to move forward undesirably in case of collision. In view of this, a vehicle has been proposed which is provided with a knee protector mounted on an instrument panel facing the passenger so that the passenger is protected from the undesirably forward movement in collision.
Conventionally, the knee protector is constituted by a metal plate and integrally mounted on a lateral frame which is disposed in a lateral direction of the vehicle for carrying the instrument panel wherein the knee protector faces the passenger seated in a front seat as shown in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-36434, published on Oct. 22, 1986. The knee protector stops the forward, movement of the passenger resulted from the inertia at the time of collision and lightens an impact of the collision applied the knees of the passenger.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-32048, published on July 14, 1982, discloses similar knee protector.
Since an engine disposed in front of the passenger compartment is moved rearwardly relative to the passenger because of the collision, a lower portion of a dash panel partitioning the passenger compartment from the engine is also moved rearwardly to push up the knees of the passenger. As a result, the knees of the passenger are moved forwardly but upwardly so that the knee protector cannot cover the knees of the passenger properly.